Cairne Bloodhoof: High Chieftain of the Tauren

Video: Cairne Bloodhoof, the duel Garrosh could only win with poison

Early life on the plains of Kalimdor

Before the Horde reached Kalimdor, Cairne led the Bloodhoof tribe near the shores of the Great Sea, in the Barrens. In his youth he was a childhood friend of Hamuul Runetotem, the future archdruid. His life-mate Tamaala bore him a son, Baine. She was a deeply spiritual tauren with a big heart, and Cairne later said that Baine took after her. Tamaala died of an incurable illness some time before the Third War.

By then Cairne was old, "slowed somewhat by the weight of age", but he was still a peerless warrior. His people faced extermination. The centaur marauders raided the tauren tribes without pause and had hunted the local game almost to extinction. Cairne never gave up hope of leading his people to a new land where they could live in peace. That land was Mulgore.

Like all tauren, Cairne spoke Taur-ahe, the tongue of the shu'halo, and he greeted others with the phrase "Ish-ne-alo por-ah". Blizzard's Loreology account translated it as "May the days ahead be guided by the elders of long ago." His tribe's sacred weapon, the Bloodhoof Runespear, had passed from chieftain to heir for twenty generations. Each owner carved his own history into the shaft.

Meeting Thrall: the Third War

During the Third War, Thrall's newly freed orcs landed on Kalimdor. Cairne was 99 years old. He watched the young warchief cut down a band of centaurs that were attacking a tauren and was struck by what he saw:

"I am Cairne, chief of the Bloodhoof tauren. You greenskins fight with savagery and valor. I am intrigued."

Thrall said his people had come to seek their destiny, and Cairne pointed him north, to a mysterious Oracle. When a centaur army moved on the Bloodhoof village, Thrall's warriors fought beside the tauren through wave after wave of attacks. Thrall then swore to escort the tauren caravan across the Barrens to Mulgore in exchange for the location of the Oracle. Together they evaded and defeated the centaur marauders, and Cairne finally led his people home.

Cairne did not forget the debt. At Stonetalon Peak he sought Thrall out again. He rallied the wind riders (wyverns) by freeing them from the harpies and helped take the peak from the humans. Inside the caverns he found an enchanted spirit stone that raised an ethereal bridge to the Oracle. There he, Thrall and Jaina Proudmoore met the Oracle, who was secretly Medivh. He told them that only an alliance of their peoples could defeat the Burning Legion. Cairne's warriors and wisdom then helped Thrall free Grom Hellscream from demonic corruption. Cairne formally pledged the tauren to the Horde, and together they defeated the Burning Legion once again.

The founding of Durotar

After the war Cairne helped the orcs establish Durotar and then returned to Mulgore. Months later centaurs captured Baine. Fearing the worst, Cairne sank into a lethargic despair. When Rexxar and Rokhan came to ask for help against Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, he told them to tell Thrall that he had died. His second, Tagar, told them the truth. With the help of Bovan Windtotem, Rexxar rescued Baine, and the overjoyed chieftain went to war himself. He fought beside Rexxar at Dustwallow and helped end the Kul Tiran invasion.

Founding Thunder Bluff and uniting the tribes

Cairne saw that the old nomadic life was itself a danger. There were few tauren, and wandering bands were easy prey for centaur and quilboar. With the Horde's help he secured the grasslands of Mulgore as a permanent home for all tauren and built their first city on the mesas of Thunder Bluff. Over time the scattered tribes united under him. Some disagreed about the new nation's direction, but all agreed that Cairne was the wisest and best suited to lead them.

Not everyone accepted him. Magatha Grimtotem, the Elder Crone of the Grimtotem tribe, believed she should lead the tauren. Cairne let her live on the Elder Rise, following the principle "hold your friends close, but your enemies closer."

As High Chieftain, Cairne was a moral anchor for the Horde:

• He hosted Sylvanas Windrunner in Thunder Bluff. With Thrall and Hamuul, he brought the Forsaken into the Horde (World of Warcraft: Sylvanas).
• He openly opposed the blood elves' methods but recognised the strategic value of the Blood Knights.
• He refused to drive off an enraged earth elemental haunting the Pools of Vision until he understood what had disturbed it. Magatha used this to discredit him (World of Warcraft: The Comic).
• When the Emerald Nightmare struck Azeroth, he was among the first tauren to fall into its slumber (Stormrage).

The Cataclysm: the mak'gora against Garrosh

In The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm, Thrall named Garrosh Hellscream acting Warchief before leaving for Outland. Cairne had travelled with Garrosh from Northrend and was impressed by his ability as a commander, but he opposed the appointment. The two old friends parted bitterly, neither willing to yield. Meanwhile Garrosh rebuilt Orgrimmar into a fortress that reminded Cairne of the old, aggressive Horde.

Then an owl from Hamuul brought terrible news. Druids gathered for a meeting between the Horde and the Cenarion Circle had been slaughtered, apparently with the new Warchief's approval. The killers were in fact orcs serving the Twilight's Hammer. Cairne issued a mak'gora, the orcish ritual duel, to challenge Garrosh for leadership of the Horde. Garrosh accepted but refused the non-lethal form Thrall had sanctioned: it would be fought by the old laws, to the death. Cairne agreed.

The two met in the arena of Orgrimmar, each with one weapon and no armour. Cairne carried the Bloodhoof Runespear and Garrosh carried Gorehowl, his father Grom's axe. Shamans blessed both weapons, and Gorehowl was blessed by Magatha Grimtotem. Instead of ritual oil, she anointed the blade with poison.

Cairne took the upper hand from the start. Calm and experienced, he turned Garrosh's rage against him. Tides of War later records that every witness agreed he was winning, and that only luck could otherwise have saved Garrosh. Then Gorehowl shattered the runespear and left a glancing cut across Cairne's chest. He suddenly grew faint and could not raise what remained of his weapon. He understood that he had been poisoned. His last thought was a lament: he had lived with honour and would die betrayed. Gorehowl struck his neck, and the High Chieftain was dead before he hit the ground. Garrosh later told Baine he had not known about the poison until it was too late.

Magatha's coup and Baine's revenge

The moment Cairne fell, Magatha unleashed the Grimtotem on Thunder Bluff and the surrounding towns and murdered anyone who resisted. Baine escaped, and with Jevan Grimtotem, Hamuul and the goblin Gazlowe of Ratchet he retook the capital. He spared Magatha and exiled her and her followers. Garrosh insisted he had not known of the treachery. Baine chose not to issue another challenge, believing his father's duel had been meant to unite the Horde, not divide it.

Death, legacy and afterlife

Cairne's body was laid on a pyre with the shards of his runespear; the Children's Week quest The Fallen Chieftain places his funeral pyre at Red Rocks in Mulgore. Thrall returned from Outland and wept for the friend he had left on bad terms. He told the wind that Cairne and the tauren had always been the heart of the Horde. He kept the smallest fragment of the runespear, etched with a single rune meaning "healing". Baine took up his father's totem.

Cairne's spirit still appears in the story:

• During the trial of Garrosh Hellscream, the shaman Kador Cloudsong summoned his ghost to counsel a troubled Baine (War Crimes).
• During the Fourth War, in the quest Answer the Call, Cairne and Tamaala appeared to Baine in Thunder Bluff. Cairne reminded him that the tauren way is harmony, not destruction, and that light and shadow are both needed to see what lies ahead. He told Baine he was proud of him.

Did Cairne go to the Shadowlands? No. According to World of Warcraft: Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond (p. 18), Tamaala's soul stayed on Azeroth to watch over her family. When Cairne died, he met her and chose to stay too. Together they wait for the day Baine joins them. He plays no role in the Shadowlands storyline.

Cairne lives on in-game as well. Patch 12.1.7 re-added him for the quest Lorewalking: Warchief, Shaman, Hero, with a model updated using Heritage of the Shu'halo pieces.

Cairne Bloodhoof family tree

flowchart TD
    EB["Elder Bloodhoof<br/><i>Ancestor · Lunar Festival spirit</i>"]
    C["Cairne Bloodhoof<br/><i>High Chieftain · d. aged 107</i>"]
    T["Tamaala<br/><i>Life-mate · d. before the Third War</i>"]
    U(( ))
    B["Baine Bloodhoof<br/><i>Son · High Chieftain after Cairne</i>"]
    EB -. "ancestor (generations unknown)" .-> C
    C === U
    T === U
    U --> B

The tree only includes relatives confirmed by official sources. Cairne's parents and any siblings have never been named. Elder Bloodhoof, the ghost visited during the Lunar Festival, is listed as an ancestor of Cairne and Baine, but the exact number of generations between them is unknown. Thrall and Hamuul Runetotem were like brothers to Cairne but are not family.

FAQ

Who killed Cairne Bloodhoof?

Garrosh Hellscream killed Cairne in a mak'gora (ritual duel) in Orgrimmar. Cairne was winning until Gorehowl, secretly poisoned by Magatha Grimtotem, wounded him.

Did Garrosh know Gorehowl was poisoned?

No. Garrosh told Baine he was unaware of Magatha's trickery until it was too late. Baine accepted this, though he still blamed Garrosh for making the duel a fight to the death.

How old was Cairne Bloodhoof when he died?

He was 107. He was 99 during the Third War and died eight years later, at the start of the Cataclysm.

Who is Cairne Bloodhoof's son?

Baine Bloodhoof, his son with his life-mate Tamaala. Baine succeeded him as High Chieftain of the tauren.

Who was Cairne's wife?

Tamaala, his life-mate. She died of an incurable illness before the Third War, and her spirit stayed on Azeroth to watch over Cairne and Baine.

Is Cairne in the Shadowlands?

No. Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond states that Cairne and Tamaala's souls remain on Azeroth, waiting for Baine.

What weapon did Cairne Bloodhoof use?

The Bloodhoof Runespear, a sacred spear passed down by Bloodhoof chieftains for twenty generations. Gorehowl shattered it during the mak'gora.

Who founded Thunder Bluff?

Cairne Bloodhoof, with the help of the Horde. He built Thunder Bluff on the mesas of Mulgore as the first permanent city of the united tauren tribes.

Sources

• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, manual (p. 145) and campaign The Invasion of Kalimdor (Landfall, The Long March, Where Wyverns Dare, The Oracle, By Demons Be Driven).
• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Bonus Campaign The Founding of Durotar.
• World of Warcraft game manual (pp. 184 and the tauren chapter); World of Warcraft: Ultimate Visual Guide.
• Christie Golden, World of Warcraft: The Shattering – Prelude to Cataclysm (2010), incl. ch. 1, ch. 5, p. 203.
• Christie Golden, Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War, p. 91; War Crimes.
• Christie Golden, World of Warcraft: Sylvanas, ch. 17–18; Richard A. Knaak, Stormrage.
• World of Warcraft: The Comic ("Destiny Awaits!"); World of Warcraft: The Magazine, Vol. I Issue III (pp. 10, 16).
• World of Warcraft: Chronicle, Vol. 3, p. 195; World of Warcraft: Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond, p. 18.
• In-game quests: The Fallen Chieftain (Children's Week), Answer the Call (patch 8.2.0), Bloodhoof the Elder (Lunar Festival), Lorewalking: Warchief, Shaman, Hero (patch 12.1.7).
• Loreology (Blizzard) on Twitter, 14 April 2014 (translation of "Ish-ne-alo por-ah").
• Community wikis cross-checked: Warcraft Wiki – Cairne Bloodhoof, Wowpedia – Cairne Bloodhoof, plus their pages on Tamaala, Baine Bloodhoof, Elder Bloodhoof, Bloodhoof Runespear, Mak'gora and Magatha Grimtotem.

Illustrations: original artwork by The Tirisfalen. World of Warcraft and Warcraft are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment. This page is fan content and is not affiliated with Blizzard.